


The death of all things (that are seen and unseen)

by reveluvy



Category: NCT (Band), We Go Up - NCT Dream (Music Video)
Genre: Barely Any Romance, Blood and Gore, Gen, Minor Character Death, Post-Apocalypse, Unrequited Love, mutated humans, sorta zombies, they swear a bit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:28:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26303434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reveluvy/pseuds/reveluvy
Summary: A treacherous journey through the wasteland to find a dead friend.Terrible and wonderful things happen along the way.Title is a song lyric from Wasteland, Baby! by Hozier.
Kudos: 2





	The death of all things (that are seen and unseen)

**Author's Note:**

> For the playlist that helped me write this story:  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1aZ3BinJ1peqfhLKotezgC?si=S9RXHcVQS32RlbmDYwIpLg  
> or search up the death of all things on spotify!

They weren’t gonna make it out easily.   
That was the only sure thing in this whole situation they were getting into. 

“It’s only been a week, he can’t be far,” Jeno retorts, trying desperately to reassure Donghyuck who’s been pacing around his locked room for a concerning amount of time. Jeno realizes it’s no use, sighs shakily, and zips his backpack shut.

“Look, I’m scared too, but we’re doing this tonight whether you’re ready or not.” 

Donghyuck’s legs give in and he lands on his rug. 

“Army boy, easy for you to say. You literally prepared for this in official training,” he mutters.

Donghyuck’s right, so Jeno doesn’t respond. They sit in silence for a while, letting their thoughts invade each other’s minds like a parasite. They recognize the agonizing fear in the other’s face, Donghyuck starts to tremble and Jeno suppresses his emotions even more. In reality, Jeno was scared shitless, just as much as his friend was. He was a cadet, training to protect his colony from other governments and what hides in the wasteland, so he’d heard every bit of propaganda and fear mongering existing within his community. None were confirmed, but nobody knows the truth and comes back.

He was almost sure Mark wouldn’t come back, and they wouldn’t either, but he wasn’t going to let Donghyuck blindly kill himself alone.

Mark was found making music with his mouth, alone in his room. His big brother exposed him to the police after hearing the faintest melody through the wall. Punishment for listening to music is two days outside, making music is a week. Everyone knows that’s bullshit, though. The second you’re outside your colony, it’s a death sentence. Sure, his father was an important figure who’s reputation had to be maintained, but Jeno and Donghyuck never thought it could lead to a complete lack of understanding and compassion from the rest of the family. Mark’s friends can’t fathom how his own brother could’ve killed him like that; how brainwashed and scared you had to be.

Adults are like that -- scared and brainwashed -- trying their best to hide it and appear independent.

“It’s almost sundown,” Jeno says ominously.

The room was getting darker, Donghyuck’s features blurring in the murk. Jeno crawls across the bed to light the lamp, observes how Donghyuck winces and adjusts to the light slowly. Nothing either could say would help or comfort, so they opt for quick glances at the clock and holding hands a bit too tightly. 

Donghyuck sighs shakily. A pause. “We leave at nine… deal?” he utters, doubtful. Reality was starting to hit him, the simple fact that he’s practically sauntering into mortal danger and dragging one of his best friends along with him. He never felt as guilty, terrified, hesitant as he did in that moment. He takes a deep breath.

“Deal,” Jeno says.

Nine o’clock arrives way too fast. The boys climb out the window, clutching their bags. The journey to the border of the colony wasn’t risky, neither was the escape. You’re not technically prohibited from leaving, but if you want to stay alive and somewhat safe, you stay inside. The vast majority decided to live. 

They venture further away from downtown, seeing their old schoolmates and neighbours pass by them, not knowing the boys’ destination. They pass by the hospital, its rundown structure almost sinking into the ground. Donghyuck’s sister was put in their trust a year ago after catching a parasite. She died of unknown circumstances a couple weeks later. Needless to say, not many people trust the hospital in the Lee colony.

Everybody knew that other colonies existed, but contact was so limited that normal citizens had no idea how other colonies were. They thought their government was doing the best they could, that they got the best treatment possible with the limited resources. The people were comfortable with that thought, it kept them satisfied and compliant. Less work.

They make it closer to the border. The panic and adrenaline settle in as they tramp over to where the guards are, staring at them from a distance.

“Hey Jeno, who’s your friend?” asked a woman taller than both boys.

“Donghyuck. We went to school together.”

“So, why are you here? Did you want to see me?”

“We’re going outside,” Donghyuck squeaks. The crowd of guards burst into hearty laughs. After a minute of awkward glances between Jeno and Donghyuck, the guards realize he wasn’t humoring them.

“Jeno, as a friend, I cannot let you do that. What would possess you to want to leave? You’re safe here, you’ve got a life here!” The woman exclaims.

“Mark.”

“Who?”

Jeno attempts to push through the sentries, impatient to leave and abandon this conversation. Unfortunately, he’s much smaller than the people who’ve trained several years longer than him in front of him. 

“Look, I don’t want to argue. We shouldn’t have to fight our way out!” yells Jeno. 

A guard in the background mumbles that Jeno is technically correct, and that ends the altercation.  
The boys feel the stares burning their backs as they filter through the crowd and approach a large steel door, waiting for the woman to unlock it.

“You sure?” she asks, sounding as scared as if she were the one leaving.

“Just open it,” Jeno sighs.

The outside looks similar to the inside, surprisingly. Concrete and granite sprinkled everywhere, dust and dry, cracked earth under their feet. The door shuts quickly behind them without a word. It was real, they were out, alive for the moment, oddly determined.  
Donghyuck had stopped trembling. Jeno finally let the tears he had been trying to overpower fall, warm on his cheeks. Their backs stayed glued to the door; the shock still fresh in their spirits. Jeno had thought about abandoning Donghyuck too many times to be able to look at his friend in the eyes. Donghyuck couldn’t help himself from looking forward, scanning to find a familiar figure.

It was surreal. They had heard tales of the outside, mainly horror stories, and never knew if they were real or made up. They still weren’t sure. Were there really monstrous creatures and killers and sickness? All they could see were abandoned buildings and a horizon blurred by the dust. It’s not like the air was worse, or the resources were scarcer. At that point, they wondered if the colonies were created purely to control their populations, instead of protecting them. They were unsure if they were freed or captured, maybe both.  
It wasn’t beautiful, wasn’t horrible. In fact, it looked just as the inside, identical if you didn’t pay any mind to the lack of people. 

This is it? Donghyuck thought. They were anticipating at least something to be different, good or bad. Jeno’s expectation was to be killed the second he stepped foot outside, so he felt the tiniest bit relieved, though he wouldn’t admit it to his friend. 

They walk for an hour, trying to find the faintest hint of life. They turn to look back and realize that their colony is out of sight now. Jeno realizes then that they weren’t going to find Mark, not unless the universe decides to be kind for once. Donghyuck wasn’t necessarily the naïve one, but he was definitely way too hopeful for his own good. Jeno and Mark would never dare reprimand him for it. Jeno may have regretted it in that moment.

The dark was getting too intense to keep walking, so the two decide to set up camp near a crumbled apartment complex. Several minutes pass in concentrated silence, setting up the makeshift beds beside each other. They wiggle into the covers in silence as well, averting their gaze from the other. This was a strangely intimate moment, something they weren’t used to. They both decide to stare at the sky instead of admitting how awkward they felt. The stars were out, so many you’d need a thousand nights to count them. It was new to them, having the time to analyze the moon’s craters and guess each star’s colour. It was a luxury they didn’t realize was missing in their lives; looking up at the sky. 

“Where do you think the rich people live?”

Jeno was startled at the question. He knew they abandoned Earth many years ago and left the poor for dead, but he never bothered to care about where they went. 

“Didn’t they go to the moon?”

That was what they learned in their textbooks, when they were still in school. Everyone knew the curriculum was censored, but something about their teacher drawling on and on without any intonation made the notions all blend together either way. Donghyuck remembered everything about the rich people, though. He could recall when they left, why they left, the most important figures who left, where they wanted to go. It angered him like nothing else, and he hoped with all his might that their mission had failed the minute they lifted off.

He hated them more than anything in this wretched world.

Donghyuck chuckled. “Of course not! Way too small for their mansions!” he joked. Jeno’s laughs mingled with Donghyuck’s into what seemed like harmony, though the boys had never heard it. If they knew what harmony was, it would be this moment.

“Hmm… I guess that big star over there, then. The really sparkly one.”

“Do you think they made it?”

“I hope not.”

Even though the elite escaped, a hierarchy within the community remains, only now, what’s considered high class is what people several generations ago would call mundane, a normal wealth that got you through life comfortably. Forget luxury, comfort was the new elite. 

The Lee colony was exceptionally poor, though. If you could eat three meals a day and have a room to yourself, you were considered an Elite.  
Mark was elite, Donghyuck and Jeno weren’t.

Their little conversation ends at that. Donghyuck wasn’t sure how to answer in a way that kept the exchange going, so he decides to put a strand of Jeno’s hair behind his ear and closes his eyes.  
Their hands reach for the other’s in perfect synchronisation, a small comfort to get through their first night outside. It was petrifyingly awkward at first, but they both knew they needed it. Eventually, the tension in their fingers subsides.

“We’ll find him,” Donghyuck whispers.

Jeno couldn’t bring himself to lie to his friend, so he opts for squeezing Donghyuck’s hand tightly.

“Go to sleep, Hyuck.”

“Fine,” he giggles. “Goodnight, army boy.”

He squeezes back.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Vannie for beta reading this chapter!! Your help was very important to me :)


End file.
